E-Paper
Ukraine orders evacuations in Donetsk as Russian troops advance into region
The order was issued by the head of the Donetsk region, governor Vadym Filashkin, asking civilians with children to evacuate from areas under threat.
Ukrainian authorities have ordered the evacuation of civilians who have children from more than a dozen towns and settlements in the Donetsk region amid rapid but limited advances made by Russia in the area.
The order was issued on Wednesday by the head of the Donetsk region, governor Vadym Filashkin. It asks civilians with children to evacuate from towns and villages under threat.
"We are beginning the mandatory evacuation of families with children from the town of Bilozerske," governor Vadym Filashkin said, adding that around a dozen of other settlements fell under the orders as well.
According to the governor, some 1,150 children remaining in the area will be impacted by the order.
The order comes just ahead of the meeting scheduled between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska, where they are expected to talk about ending the three-year-old war in Ukraine. Kyiv fears that it will be asked to give up territory and be dictated the terms of the ceasefire without being a part of the dialogue.
Ukraine, Russia trade attacks ahead of Trump-Putin Alaska Summit
Ukraine’s General Staff said it made a successful drone strike early on Sunday on a major refinery in the Saratov region, the latest in a series of attacks this month on Russian oil facilities.
Earlier, the regional governor announced that UAVS from Ukraine hit an unspecified “industrial enterprise” in the region, about 530 miles (850 km) southeast of Moscow.
The drone activity also caused temporary flight delays at a local airport, and at least one person was killed when drone debris fell in a residential area, the governor said.
Videos posted on Russian social media showed flames and clouds of black smoke in the area of what was said to be the Rosneft PJSC-operated refinery.
Russia also regularly targets energy infrastructure in Ukraine. On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, condemned Russia’s targeted air strikes on the oil depot belonging to the Azerbaijani company SOCAR. They also blasted the Kremlin for an attack on a gas compressor station transporting Azerbaijani gas to Ukraine, according to a statement from Aliyev’s office published on his website.
Russia hit the city of Zaporizhzhia with bombs being dropped on residential buildings, its main bus terminal and one of the clinics, Zelenskiy said in a post on X Sunday. He said that there were casualties, but didn’t provide an exact number.
